The New iPod Nano: Review

The Gadget Guru's ReviewApple refreshed their entire range of iPods this week at their annual music event held in San Francisco. Steve Jobs opened the event and duly received a standing ovation for returning to work after a liver transplant. Mr Jobs showed a rare moment of emotion when his voice cracked as he encouraged everyone watching to sign their organ donor cards and give others the life saving opportunity he was lucky enough to experience.

As usual we were presented with a dazzling array of stats. The most impressive of which is that iTunes is now the world's number one music retailer chalking up an incredible 8.5 BILLION paid-for song downloads. Who says people won't pay for music anymore? iTunes 9 was duly launched and has a few extra features which mix your favourite tunes and a newly designed, cleaner interface.

On the product front, the iPod Touch is now their fastest selling device and is proving popular with gamers threatening Sony PSP and Nintendo's place in the market. Two new models were introduced and prices start at £149. Apple have started referring to them as small computers. A hint of the so called 'tablet' device to come next year perhaps?

The tiny iPod shuffle has a new range of colours and a lower price as well as a shiny stainless steel premium version but the best was saved for last.

The iPod Nano is the world's most successful music player. The new model keeps is the same size but an newly finish to the shell and has a number of extra features. For LBC listeners there is very good news. The device finally has an FM radio (something I've been asking for for nine years!) so you can decide between LBC podcasts or live LBC! Even better, the FM radio has a pause function so if you're called away, just click the button and it will buffer up to 15 minutes of programming for you ready for you to carry on where you left off.

Even more impressive is the inclusion of a video camera. Remember this device is just 0.24 of an inch thick. We've been big fans of the Flip Video camera that allows you to take fun videos and upload them to an array of social networking sites and YouTube. Apple have managed to cram a video camera into this tiny device making the Flip Video device look positively Jurassic in age. Although you're unlikely to see George Lucas making his next blockbuster with it, the 640 by 480 pixels and up to 30 frames per second with AAC audio is more than enough to make fun videos at when you're out and about.

Apple have also added voice support, a pedometer and a voice recorder and this tiny device starts at £115.